The Sensex and Nifty closed at their highest ever levels for a third day running on Wednesday, as the shares of energy companies such as Reliance Industries Ltd advanced on the back of higher crude prices.

The benchmark BSE index closed up 57.73 points or 0.18 per cent at 31,804.82, while the broader NSE index ended 30.05 points or 0.31 per cent higher at 9,816.10.

But investors remained cautious ahead of consumer inflation data for June and IIP data for May to be released after market closing today.

Among BSE sectoral indices, oil & gas index gained the most by 1.54 per cent, followed by PSU 1.22 per cent, infrastructure 1.14 per cent and banking 0.51 per cent. On the other hand, IT index was down 0.38 per cent and TECk 0.06 per cent.

Top five Sensex gainers were HUL (+2.04%), ONGC (+1.59%), State Bank of India (+1.34%), ICICI Bank (+1.04%) and Reliance (+1.02%), while the major losers were TCS (-1.33%), M&M (-0.97%), ITC (-0.51%), Hero MotoCorp (-0.48%) and Dr Reddy's (-0.36%).

CPI inflation

Consumer inflation data is expected to cool to a record low of 1.70 per cent in June, easing further from May's 2.18 per cent, according to a Reuters poll.

Markets are also keeping an eye on corporate earnings, including from Tata Consultancy Services Ltd on Thursday and Infosys Ltd on Friday.

Analysts think the Indian market is over-stretched and they warn about a potential correction after indexes hit record highs in each of the two previous sessions.

“If the NSE (index) doesn't cross 9,830 today, we could see a correction of around 150-250 points by this week,” said AK Prabhakar, head of research with IDBI Capital.

“I think the sentiment is tepid for June-quarter results and the impact of GST (goods and services tax) will only be properly realised in the second half of the year.”

Early trade

The 30-share index went up 73.03 points or 0.23 per cent to 31,820.12. The gauge gained 386.45 points in the previous two sessions to close at a fresh record high of 31,747.09 yesterday. The NSE index Nifty recaptured the key 9,800 mark by rising 27.10 points or 0.27 per cent to 9,813.15.

Global markets

Asian shares steadied on Wednesday after Wall Street managed to weather a fresh twist in the political controversy surrounding US President Donald Trump's administration, while investors looked ahead to Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's comments later in the day.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan ticked up 0.1 per cent while Japan's Nikkei slid 0.3 per cent. “Yellen's testimony is the biggest focus. I don't expect shares to move much in either direction ahead of that,” said Hirokazu Kabeya, chief global strategist at Daiwa Securities.

US stocks had ended little changed on Tuesday in a session marked by knee-jerk reactions to events in Washington that drove investors to first worry then hope about prospects for the Trump administration's economic agenda.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 0.55 point to 21,409.07, the S&P 500 lost 1.9 points, or 0.08 per cent, to 2,425.53 and the Nasdaq Composite added 16.91 points, or 0.27 per cent, to 6,193.31.

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